John Marshall rolls, halts playoff drought with win over Perry
John Marshall 42, Perry 8
BY BOBBY ROCKEL, Special Correspondent
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Published: November 7, 2009
It’s sort of odd when a coach says his 2-8 team "was close” a year ago.
But as it turns out,
John Marshall’s
Bruce Troxell was exactly right. The 10th-ranked Bears flipped those numbers, finishing 8-2, 5-2 and third in District 2A-1 by running over Perry 42-8 Friday night at historic
Taft Stadium, and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
It’s a nice ending to a rocky road that started three years ago when Troxell took over the then-Class 5A program.
"I’ll tell you, when I got here I told them in three years we’d make the playoffs, but really, I wasn’t too sure about that,” Troxell said. "We didn’t have a weight room, a real commitment — it’s hard to run a program like that. But things have really turned around, and I can’t give enough credit to donors, parents, administration, our coaches and the kids. They’ve really, really all worked so hard and we’re not done yet.”
Troxell is also fortunate to have a thoroughbred to hitch his wagon to in quarterback Brendon Jordan.
Banged up a week ago in a 12-7 upset win over then-No. 5 Heritage Hall, Jordan ran wild against the Maroons (5-5, 3-4). The senior rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more, hooking up twice with wide receiver Michael Post.
"I’ve got to give all the credit to my teammates and my offensive line,” Jordan said. "They just open the holes and I run through them.”
And run and run.
Jordan finished with 152 yards on just 15 carries. His numbers through the air weren’t staggering, but when he had to find an open receiver, he did. He was 5-of-12 passing for 90 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown strike on fourth-and-15 to boost the Bears to a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter.
Despite his linebacker-like size (6-2, 215), Jordan ran a 6.7-second 60 for pro baseball scouts earlier this year.
"Yeah, I don’t think you want to try and tackle him,” Troxell said. "He’s just got it all. Like I said, we were close last year, we just didn’t close. It was a lack of maturity. There were probably five of six games we could have won. Most of these kids haven’t played but two years of competitive ball, but I think we’re starting to build something here.”
Now they’ll at least get another week to build when they travel to Little Axe for a first-round playoff game.
Perry showed some fight early, grinding on the John Marshall defense with running backs
Brian Yenor, Brayley Running and
Carl Conrad. But mistakes, including a costly fumble on the Bears’ 5-yard line midway through the second quarter, kept the Maroons off the scoreboard until a late touchdown in the second half.
Yenor carried most of the load. The junior rushed 24 times for 108 yards.
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